


The End

by Magical_Persona



Series: How Ellis [2]
Category: Left 4 Dead 2
Genre: Kind of angsty, M/M, Someone is gonna die, still getting back into the swing of writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 14:12:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9075334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magical_Persona/pseuds/Magical_Persona
Summary: This is a semi continuation of The Beginning. You don't have to read it before reading this one, thought it will probably make it hurt more. This is the story of how Ellis lost Nick.





	

The four survivors were making their way through town when a Jockey landed on Nick’s back. This wasn’t the first time a Jockey had gotten them. Usually, they went after Ellis, he was much louder than anyone else. Therefore, he attracted their attention.

The Jockey sunk its teeth into Nick’s shoulder before Ellis was able to kill it. Once the Jockey was dead Ellis knelt at Nick’s side.

“Nick, ya alright?” He asked helping the older man up.

“Yeah,” Nick replied.

Ellis looked at the other’s shoulder and winced. “Let me patch that up.”

“Later,” Nick grumbled, pushing Ellis away.

Ellis stepped away, giving Nick his space, but it didn’t stop him from sending worried looks to the man. He knew what it felt like to get bit. It stung worse than the one-time Keith thought it would be a good idea to throw rocks at a beehive. The bees came out and attacked the both of them.

Nick’s mind was reeling. He’d never been bitten before. There was a slim chance that he would be immune like the survivors with him, but it would more likely not turn out in his favor. Chances were it would take a while for the symptoms to show. When they did he’d…He glanced at Ellis. Well, he wasn’t sure what he’d do, but he’d cross that bridge when he got to it. Until then, he was going to kill as many of these bastards as he could.

They ran into more zombies, there were always more. They were never ending. As usual, however, the zombies were not the immediate threat. He had to back up quickly to avoid being smacked in the face with the back of a fire axe.

“Ellis!” Nick shouted, moving close enough to smack the hick’s head. “Watch where you’re swinging that thing!”

Ellis laughed, rubbing his neck. “’M sorry, Nick.”

Nick didn’t reply, but Ellis fell instep beside him as they moved on. It was almost dark when they stopped walking. Nick was forced to remark that the apocalypse at least meant the surviving people would be in good shape when it came to rebuilding the world.

The four of them entered the safe house. They checked the rooms, more out of habit than anything else. Once the house was cleared of threats the small group wandered around the house picking up supplies and gathering them in the center of the down stairs hall. It was in the center of the house away from windows. Here they would be able to determine what they needed and what they could leave here. The four of them emptied their packs and while Coach and Rochelle determined what was useful, Ellis pulled Nick into the next room.

The living room had once been beautifully furnished, but now it was covered in dust. A shame too, really, these would have been worth something not all that long ago. Now here it was, collecting dust, blood, and who knows what else. Ellis gestured to the couch, but Nick stayed where he was.

“I can take of myself,” Nick bristled.

“Of course ya can, Nick,” Ellis said with a smile. “I jus’ wanna help. Plus, if I don’t help you Ro an’ Coach’ll make me sort stuff. Ya know I don’t like sortin’ stuff. It’s borin’.”

Nick rolled his eyes, but he sat, allowing Ellis to poke and prod at the wound.

“You shoulda been payin’ attention,” Ellis scolded as he cleaned the wound. “You wouldn’t’ve gotten bit if ya had.”

“You’re bedside manner is atrocious,” Nick snapped, but his voice lacked conviction.

“Well, at least I ain’t threatin’ to feed ya to them zombies as a distraction,” Ellis pointed out, but he was smiling to show he was only teasing.

“I never said it was going to be a distraction,” Nick pointed out. “That was said as an afterthought.”

“That don’t make it any better!” Ellis protested with a laugh as he finished wrapping Nicks arm. “There ya are. Ya should be better in the morning.”

“Let’s go help Ro and Coach,” Nick said walking back into the hall.

“Nick! I don’t wanna!” Ellis whined as he followed the conman.

Rochelle was the only one standing at the pile now. She finished zipping up the last bag before looking up at them.

“Coach is making beans,” She informed them. “There are four rooms, but…”

“Nick and I can still share, right?” Ellis asked.

“You’re not a child Ellis,” Nick pointed out as he walked into the kitchen. “You can sleep where you want.”

Ellis pouted after him. “Now, that ain’t true and you know it. If I slept in a different room than you your feelings’d get hurt and then you’d be super grumpy tomorrow.”

Rochelle shook her head in amusement as the two walked away. She moved the four bags closer to the walls so they didn’t trip over them and then went about putting the unwanted items away.

Ellis was good for Nick. Coach had been opposed to it at first, but both Ellis and Nick would do what they wanted. You couldn’t stop either of them. Besides, they were two sides of the same coin. They needed each other. Ellis kept Nick approachable and Nick kept Ellis in reality. She watched as Nick was bothering Ellis about a potato he was tossing from hand to hand while Ellis pretended to care. Yeah, they definitely needed each other.

 

That night Nick woke. He wasn’t sure what time it was, only that it was still dark and that his arm was burning. He stumbled to the bathroom, a combination of pain and sleepiness making it hard to stand upright. He dug through the cabinets until he found a small bit of gauze and some alcohol.

There was just enough light from the moon for him to see what he was doing. It hurt when he took the gauze from his shoulder. The pain was enough to make him sway on his feet. He’d done things like this before. It was nothing new. He knew how to patch himself up, but this was something else.

Despite the pain he cleaned out the wound once more, rewrapped it, took some pills, and made his way back to bed. He was relieved to see Ellis still sound asleep, though when he slid under the covers the hick wasted no time in latching onto him like a leech. Nick did his best to pull the younger man closer. Slowly, he managed to relax and force himself to ignore the bone deep ache in his shoulder.

As usual, the next morning he was up before Ellis. In his sleep the hick had rolled away from Nick, but he had somehow managed to tangle their legs together in the covers. Nick sighed, causing his arm to remind his still waking brain that it was in pain.

He groaned and it must have been a bit more loudly than he would have liked because Ellis stirred.

Sleep filled, blue eyes looked at Nick, then Ellis smiled. Nick couldn’t help himself, he kissed Ellis gently.

Ellis jerked his head back. “Ew! You have morning breath!”

Nick glared. “Your breath doesn’t exactly smell like mint.”

Ellis smiled and then sat up enough to leap at Nick, causing the conman to hiss in pain. Ellis backed up, sitting on his heels, and looking at Nick worriedly.

“Your arm is still botherin’ ya?” Ellis’s voice was filled with concern.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Nick said quietly as he climbed out of bed.

“Let me look at it?” Ellis asked, following his lover.

Nick was about to protest, but against his wished his head nodded. “Alright.”

Once again, the conman was led down to the living room where Ellis checked his arm. When Ellis pealed the gauze back Nick just barely stopped himself from tearing up. It hurt more than anything he had experienced. More than a bullet, more than the one time he’d been poisoned, even more that the time his ex-wife stabbed him.

What Ellis saw under the gauze made him cringe. The wound hadn’t cleared up. It had gotten worse. It smelled like death and was horribly discolored. The wound itself was leaking some strange ooze that had the color of baby-poop-green. This wasn’t what his bites had looked like. The next day they were usually starting to scab over. They weren’t continuously leaking strange liquids.

A thought that Ellis didn’t want to entertain popped into his head. The more he tried to push it away the faster it came back. He was immune, but as far as he knew he’d never seen Nick get bit. What if…and before he could stop himself he was speaking.

“Nick?” His voice was quiet, close to breaking. “You ever been bit before?”

Nick was about to answer when a gasp reminded the two that they weren’t alone. Rochelle was standing in the doorway with a clear view of Nick’s arm.

“You’re not immune,” Rochelle’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“We don’t know that,” Ellis said quickly.

Rochelle seemed to find herself again, though her eyes held a sadness in them. “Ellis, Sweety, I reported on this, remember? That’s what the bites looked like of the people who came into the hospital.”

“How long do I have?” Nick asked, his voice sharp enough to draw her attention, but not enough to be harsh.

“I don’t know,” Rochelle replied honestly. “It varies on the person and the kind of infected that bit you. A few days at most.”

Ellis looked hurt, looking from Rochelle to Nick. Nick was nodding slowly, like he was taking in the information. Ellis decided that was worse than Rochelle’s pity.

Nick was the first to offer Ellis a smile. “It’s going to be alright Ellis.”

He sounded so convincing that for a split second, when he looked right at that smile, Ellis believed him. Then he returned to patching up the wound and his stomach sank. He was going to lose Nick.

“Coach needs to know,” Rochelle pointed out, her tone almost back to normal.

Nick watched Ellis until the hick had finished. “He should hear it from me.”

“He’s in the bathroom making sure we didn’t miss anything,” Rochelle explained.

Nick nodded, making his way down the hall and to the right. 

That left Ellis and Rochelle together and Ellis was tempted to blame her for all of this, but he couldn’t find it in himself. All he could do now was make the best of the time they did have. It made him mad that it had taken him this long to figure that out. If Nick was dying, he’d just have to make sure these were some of the best days Nick ever had.

Nick leaned against the bathroom doorway as Coach dug through the vanity.

“Rochelle has kindly pointed something out to me,” Nick’s usual, snide tone had returned.

“What might that be?” Coach asked, not looking away from the task at hand.

“I am not as immune as the three of you,” Nick replied.

Now Coach looked at the man, his gaze falling on Nick’s injured shoulder. “You’re turning into one of them.”

“I’ve said it before, if I’m dying in this shit hole I’m taking as many of them down with me as I can,” Nick growled. “When it’s more harm than good to keep me around shoot me.”

“Ellis won’t like that,” Coach pointed out.

For that Nick had no reply. He knew Ellis would like it, but he didn’t want to be talking to Ellis one moment and killing him the next. The hillbilly would recover, he was resilient.

 

Normally, while they walked Ellis would be chattering on about that stupid Keith, but he hadn’t said a word in 5 miles. A new record, Nick had to keep glancing back to where the hick was to make sure he was still there.

“Ellis!” Nick called, motioning for the younger man to join him.

The beaming smile on Ellis’ face was priceless as he jogged to fall instep beside Nick.

“I don’t think you’ve finished the story about your idiot friend sleeping in the barn,” Nick said. He had a feeling he was going to regret his decision, but a quiet Ellis bothered him more than a story telling Ellis.

Ellis’ smile grew to the point that his face might crack. No one in their band had ever asked him to tell a story, let alone Nick! Now was his chance to shine!

“Well, ya see, it was my buddy Keith’s birthday, right? And he thought it’d be real neat to have his party in the barn. He wanted it to be a big sleep over thing, I think we was like ten. Anyway, not many people like me an’ Keith when we was younger so it was just the two of us. We spent the night in the barn, since it didn’t have no animals at the time. Ya see my parents was still getting up the money to get the animals for it.” 

Ellis stopped here to make sure everyone was still listening. He wasn’t sure about Rochelle or Coach, but Nick was glancing at him occasionally. “Well Keith thought it’d be funny to bring in some field mice, right? Wrong! See he was playing with the mice and then this huge owl swooped in! The mice got so scared they went up he’s pants and then the owl, knowin’ they was in their, started attackin’ Keith.” Ellis started laughing at the memory of Keith dancing around the barn trying to shake the mice from his pants and fight off an owl. “It was real funny. Wish ya’ll coulda seen it!”

Ellis looked at the group around him. Ro and Coach were smiling and Nick looked slightly amused, which was the equivalent of laughing from him. Ellis felt his pride soar. He’d been able to finish a story without anyone complaining and they had actually liked his story! It was the biggest win since the apocalypse started.

He couldn’t stop himself from skipping ahead a few feet at a time. There was no sense in getting to carried away, then he might not have people there to guard his back if he needed it.

 

At about midday Nick collapsed. The four of them had been moving fairly quickly through the roads. It was odd. The infected that usually would have attacked them were moving away from them, not running, but they didn’t want to come close. They were doing what they would usually do to a witch. Most infected knew not to mess with them.

Ellis was the first one to Nick’s side. He patted Nick’s cheeks gently and was thankful that brought the man back to wakefulness.

“Hey, Overalls,” Nick’s voice cracked and his body shook with pain.

To Ellis he looked horrible. Nick’s normally grey eyes were clouded over and his skin looked grey. He felt much too cold considering it was midday in Georgia. Ellis looked to Rochelle helplessly.

“You said he’d have a few days,” his voice was close to breaking.

“Ellis, get back!” Coach snapped, his gun pointed at Nick’s head.

“Coach!” Ellis shouted. “I’m not letting you kill him! He’s still Nick. He hasn’t hurt me yet.”

“Do you want it to come to that?” Coach asked in the same angry tone.

Nick pushed himself to his feet with a groan. “If you want to live I suggest you stop shouting. I’m fine, just a dizzy spell.” He gave coach a humorless grin. “If I feel like turning any of you into a meal I’ll be sure to let you know.”

He got a smack on the arm from Ellis. “Don’t go sayin’ stuff like that.”

Nick pulled Ellis’ blue cap down over his eyes before walking off. After that he was kept in the center of the group, with Ellis at his side and Coach behind him. Nick had no doubt Coach was waiting for the right moment to put a bullet through his head, not that he blamed him.

The pain was only getting worse. If this was what it felt like to turn, all the witches’ crying made sense. He didn’t think anyone could go through this pain and not want to cry.

He had hoped he’d have at least another day. One more day would have been nice, but his vision was blurring. He didn’t have one more day. He had hours. Chances were the venom, or whatever you wanted to call it, was working its way through his system faster due to the walking.

At least they didn’t have to deal with any of the infected, which was odd, but most of them were clearing out as soon as they got a good smell of what would soon become a witch. The only time they truly had a problem was when a tank showed up.

The tank tried to barrel through them, but it topped once a few clips of bullets had been emptied into it. Those, Ellis decided, were his second least favorite. His least favorite of the special infected were the Jockeys. Those were the whole reason he was losing Nick.

He looked around, trying to find the telltale white suit jacket. When he found it he saw Coach helping Nick up. Nick had stopped the tank from ripping Coach apart until Ellis and Rochelle could bring it down.

“Nick!” Ellis ran up to the older man breathlessly.

“That’s still my name,” Nick replied, ruffling Ellis’s hat. “Let’s see if we can find a safe house for the night.”

Ellis nodded, happy to follow Nick’s orders until the end. Coach looked a bit more suspicious and Rochelle still looked sad. She had a better idea than any of them on how long Nick had.

As they walked Nick found it harder and harder to walk. The world was spinning oddly and he was seeing in different colors than he was used to. The waves usually passed quickly and within seconds he was left with his normal eyesight again. However, they were lasting longer. As he stumbled up the stairs of the safe house he had to rely on Ellis and Coach to help him.

“Nick,” Coach said quietly as he led him into the house and then up the stairs. He purposely told Ellis to wait downstairs. “How long do you think you have?”

“Not long,” Nick replied. He was trying to think, but his thoughts were slow and scattered. It was like trying to swim through tar. He was pretty sure when he spoke his words slurred.

“I’m taking your gun,” Coach said and Nick felt the lightness as the gun left its holster.

“Why?” Nick asked, he tried to sound angry, but he just came off as drunk.

“I don’t trust you not to shoot at the next person who comes in here, or worse shoot it and take off. Pretend you did us all a favor,” Coach explained before helping Nick sit.

Nick was frustrated that he hadn’t registered they were in a room. He was sitting on a bed, but everything was terribly distorted. At least the pain was gone. He watched Coach leave and heard something being pushed against the door. If he had wanted to leave, there was no chance of that happening at this point.

Nick stared at the wall, trying to get his vision to stop changing. He could only see in the infrared spectrum and it was starting to give him a splitting headache. He wasn’t sure how long he sat there until someone opened the door.

“Nick?” Ellis’ voice was soft, but to Nick it sounded like a gun shot.

“Ellis,” Nick managed to force himself to speak. It was getting more and more difficult.

“Coach says it’s time,” Ellis sounded like he was having trouble speaking.

Nick wished he was stuck listening to Ellis’ heart pound. He wished he could see in something other than heat signatures. He wished there was something he could do to make this easier on the Ellis.

He saw Ellis step closer and saw the cold metal of the gun raise so it came level with his head. He leaned forward, his forehead touching the gun. Then it shook and lowered.

“I can’t, Nick.”

Nick couldn’t see the tears in Ellis’ eyes, but he heard them in his voice. Nick stood, and with great effort, stepped toward Ellis.

“It’s okay,” Nick managed to keep his voice at a calm level. “There’s no shame in getting Coach.” Nick opened his arms, but he wasn’t sure what he had been about to do.

Then Ellis hugged him. For a second Ellis smelled delicious. Nick had to force himself from attacking the younger right there, but there was still a part of him that remembered. This was the man who had loved him. Despite everything, Ellis had seen the good in him and Nick was not going to be the one who killed him. Nick pulled away, gently taking the gun from Ellis’ hand and placing it on the table beside the bed.

“Ellis,” Nick’s voice was slipping. Becoming scratchy and higher pitched. “Don’t ever change. I love you, you stupid, optimistic, hick.”

“I love you too, Nick,” Ellis whispered before leaving quickly and closing the door behind him.

 

Ellis stood on the stairs for a moment to compose himself before walking down stairs. Coach was the one standing there. Ellis managed to look into the former teacher’s eyes and shake his head.

“’M sorry, Coach,” Ellis’ voice was barely audible. “I couldn’t do it.”

Coach patted Ellis’ shoulder gently. “It’s alright. You shouldn’t have to.” Then his eyes widened. “Ellis, where’s the gun?”

Before Ellis could answer a loud BANG shook the walls. Ellis froze while Coach ran past him, up the stairs.

Ellis didn’t really hear what Rochelle and Coach were saying. He knew it was about Nick, but that wasn’t the point. Not really. Nick was dead. Less than 24 hours ago Nick had been healthy and alive. Now he was upstairs, dead. He’d had to kill himself because no one else was strong enough to do it. 

Ellis stared at the ground. What was he supposed to do now? Nick was dead. There was nothing else. Sure, Nick had his moments where he could be annoying, but Nick was his. They had loved each other. They had been there for each other through almost everything. Now Ellis would have to go out into that zombie infested world without Nick.

Ellis raised his head determined. He’d go out there, with Ro and Coach obviously. He couldn’t leave them behind. Maybe Nick was right. Maybe they’d all die here, but if that was how it was going to be, he’d take as many of those zombies with him as he could.

For Coach, for Rochelle, for himself, for Nick. He’d live, and he’d keep fighting.


End file.
